Economic Viability of Water Pumping Systems Supplied by Wind Energy Conversion and Diesel Generator Systems in North Central Anatolia, Turkey

Abstract

In this study, a comparison of the economic viability of wind turbine and diesel water pumping systems (WPSs) is presented for five different sites located in the north central Anatolia region of Turkey. Awater pumping system was considered for water usage. The wind energy potential was investigated by using the time-series wind data taken from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (TSMS). Data were processed using FORTRAN computer code. The wind power and the amount of water to be pumped was evaluated using various wind energy conversion systems (WECSs), and unit energy and water cost were measured using life the cycle cost (LCC) method for these WECSs. Moreover, the cost of water to be delivered utilizing WPS with diesel generator (DG) was compared with the cost of water delivered via WPS with WECS. Sinop had reasonable wind potential to produce electrical energy using WECS and the minimum cost of energy output and cost of water to be delivered were $0:24=kWh and $3:70=m 3 in this observation station, respectively. In addition, if thewater demand is lower than 1;000 m 3 in Sinop, such as the water consumption of a household and farm, the WPS with WECS (for Turbines 1, 2, and 4) will be more plausible than the WPS with DG system. If a medium-scale WECS were set up in Sinop, it could supply both the annual electrical demand and water consumption of a household and farm. Finally, Sinop is going to be a marginal area for cost-effective electrical energy generation as the costs of WECSs are lowered. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)EY.1943-7897.0000033. © 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers. CE Database subject headings: Economic factors; Life cycles; Costs; Meteorology; Pumps; Wind power; Turkey; Renewable energy. Author keywords: Economic viability; Life cycle cost method; Meteorological data; Water pumping; Wind energy conversion system; Wind potential; Turkey.